Category: Animals

I grew up loving Calvin and Hobbes. It’s hard to believe now that the strip ended in 1995 because some of the strips are still totally relevant today. Sadly, today the relevant cartoon was heartbreaking.

There is a Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin finds a baby racoon injured on the ground. He takes it in and keeps it warm, hoping that the little guy would pull through. Sadly, the Racoon dies, leaving Calvin bereft.

This strip always left quite an impression on me, even as a kid when I first read it, but now as an adult, I can see even more how this is a very special story. Cartoons about kids very rarely touch on the theme of death. Whether you feel that it’s not appropriate for children, eventually kids have to understand about death, because none of us are getting out of here alive.

I was always the kid who found injured birds and hedgehogs and brought them home hoping I could nurse them back to health. They always died, but there was always hope. And it seems at nearly 38 years old, I’ve never lost that hope.

I found this little guy pretty worse for wear in the extremely hot weather near my house (and close to some of the neighbourhood cats).

I’m not sure what type of bird he was. I’m pretty sure the local cats had been at him, and he was almost gone when I found him ( I love cats, but bloody hell they are sods at times). He was only in my life for the shortest time, but he has broken my heart, just as those animals did as a child. But I’m not going to stop hoping, because I dread to think what type of person I’d be if I did. Because you never know, one day I might save one.